Let's Not Panic
by the mediocre writer
Summary: Darcy could deal with strange things. Falling back in time? Great. Discovering that she had some weird connection with both a prince and the Cube? Well, that might take some explaining.
1. Prologue

**Standard disclaimer applies.**

Thrown into the past, into another world, and out of her comfort zone, Darcy encounters a younger, gentler trickster prince of Asgard. Faced with increasingly complicated and cliché feelings, how's a girl to react when she knows what he'll become in the future? More importantly, where are some damn ruby slippers and her iPod?

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><p><strong>prologue<strong>

_noun._

an introduction or preface, especially a poem recited to introduce a play  
>an introduction or introductory chapter, as to a novel<br>an introductory act, event, period

_synonyms _

forward, introduction, lead-in, overture, preamble, preface, prelude, prolegomenon

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><p><strong>Let's Not Panic<strong>

The years passed and she faded into memory. His brother could no longer recall her face and his friends, once her own, did not even remember her strange name or ways.

Of course, in those first hundred years that passed they sometimes spoke of her in passing, always careful about bringing up her name in front of him because of their respect for his brother, but as one century faded into next the years slowly turned into a millenium and they forget.

But he didn't.

He wouldn't.

She was his and would remain so in both his heart and mind. No matter how long the years, how empty and painful they became without her laughter and kisses, her face was always clear to him. She taunted him in her dreams, beckoning him with a wave of her hand, a flick of her dark hair, and her mishevious attempts at winking.

Even now with Midgard almost at his fingers tips, a world she had come from and loved all those long centuries ago, he still remembered.

And he would never forget.


	2. Jester

**Standard disclaimer applies.**

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><p><strong>jester<strong>

_noun._

a fool, one to give jests

_synonyms._

card, comedian, comic, droll, farceur, wag, wit, joker

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><p><strong>Let's Not Panic<strong>

Sure, why the hell not was really not the first thought that came to mind when Jane asked for her company at the Bifrost, worm-hole, _what_ever site. Yeah, the portal was kick-ass and everything, but she was a jaded girl, by reputation, and seeing something once was enough. Seeing something more than once, even something totally out of this world outrageous and psychedelic as Thor's all too text-book and boring hunky-ness falling down from God knows where, was altogether absolutely boring with a big ole' cap B. Not that he would be falling this time since that already happened. Twice. The first was because tough love Odin kicked him out and the second was to help save earth.

Since there was no one falling out if the sky this time, Darcy really didn't want to go. Thing was she really didn't have any other choice in the matter; she did work for Jane after all, by choice. Good, yay, woot, America! Darcy thought throwing mental hands in the air waving little American flags.

And so like a good little, yet rather busty, girl she no longer was according to her mother - girls who've lost their virginity also lost their right to be called as such according to her - Darcy hopped into the camper's driver seat and popped her gum, smiling as Jane gracefully seated herself in the passenger seat.

"Ready, boss-lady? It's going to be one hell of a ride."

"Darcy," Jane said looking over her legs in a clinical fashion.

"Yeah, what?" Darcy asked noticing the direction of Jane's gaze. "I have awesome legs, I know, but I'm pretty sure this counts of sexual harassment even if you are a female."

"You're not wearing your seat belt again. Do me a favor and put it on please. I don't want to get pulled over by the police."

She popped her gum again and did what Jane asked without any major fussing, though that would have been amusing. Annoying Jane was one of the highlights of her rather pathetic yet awesome in some common, philosophical way existence. But really she couldn't help but think that putting on seatbelts took away the dangerous thrill of driving this ancient, reject camper/truck from the seventies. Forty miles per hour in thirty seconds. The G-forces alone could kill a body. Woo!

Besides, seatbelts were a government conspiracy meant to hold down women being kidnapped in vehicles - mostly of the shady truck and van variety. Of course, no one ever got that joke when she said it aloud. No, hold that thought. Jane and her crazy aunt from Salt Lake City got the joke, but they were really the only ones.

"You have that look in your eyes, Darcy." Jane stopped whatever she was talking about to glare.

She looked at Jane from her peripheral, her voice innocent. "What look? I have no idea what you're talking about. I was listening to you, erm," what had she been talking about...tracking, radio waves, "this whole tracking deal."

"No you weren't. You're making fun of my car." Jane huffed pulling her fingers through her hair looking totally stressed out. "It was a deal, and it only had a hundred and twenty thousand miles on it. It wasn't bad mileage for a '95."

It was really sweet seeing Jane try to explain her actions but not for one second did she believe her or the car-salesman.

"No way, Jose!" Darcy nearly yelled turning her attention from the road to the woman beside her. "There is no way in the world that this camper was made in '95."

"Watch the road, Darcy!"

Afterwards, Darcy really had no idea what Jane was screaming about. Yeah, so she almost hit some ugly armadillo and/or jackrabbit. It would have been totally crushing sad for a while, but Darcy had faith she would get over it eventually. Hey, it could have even been a meal for one of the subculture people who went around eating road kill. When she told Jane as much she didn't believe her.

"No one does that. Ew. Who would do that?"

"Jane, seriously, you're being wayyy closed minded right now and it's not _cooo_," Darcy joked swerving her way through Albuquerque traffic, if it could be called that - she was from 'near Philly' after all. "You should watch the discovery channel more or Oprah's America."

"I think you mean Our American with Lisa Ling, it comes out on her network though."

"Yeah, whatever, but the point is..." Darcy stopped and stared. Jane blinked back at her and pointed, this time way more calmly and in a much more Jane-like manner, towards the window shield and thus the highway.

"Darcy, the road is in front of you."

"Christ on a cracker with cheese, Jane, you watch T.V.!"

She looked a little put out. "Of course, I do. I am human and I do get bored." Jane opened up her laptop and started typing. Darcy knew this method. It was dubbed, by her and later by Selvig, as the Jane-I'm-Too-Busy-and-Focused-to-Talk-Right-Now Method. "Anyway, with these latest calculations and with Stark's help, I think we're really close to-"

"Jane! Don't change the subject. You watch T.V."

Jane was just putting on her glasses when she frozen. "I think we've covered that, Darcy. As I said, I am human and it's only normal that I would also watch it."

Darcy wanted to rolled her eyes at Jane's tone. She always got this high and mighty 'tude when she was uncomfortable or embarrassed, which Darcy shamelessly made her feel often. Hey, a girl had to get her kicks somewhere, and with the world going to shit because of Thor's baby, adopted bro Loki whom he still had some sad, weird man-bro love for (euh, family; love 'em, hate them, just can't kill them...in most cases. Loki was disproving that in spades, though.), her perpetual born again virginity crisis that she wanted no part of but was forced to participate in because, unlike what Tony seemed to think, she wasn't a stone-cold whore (though it was an idea if push came to shove), and her staunch reputation of some weird, techno-savvy, geeky, jaded girl to hold up she could only get in so many kicks. And kicking the perfect, beautiful, smart, kind, silver spoon in mouth Jane out of both pure jealously and whole-hearted sisterly love was basically it. Of course, Stark was fun to kick, but that was more literally than metaphorically. With the kicking being replaced by tasing, of course.

"Jane, Janey, Janet...Babe, O-Network is more than just for humans. I'm pretty sure that woman has fans on both Asgard and Hoth she's that awesome."

Jane raised her eyebrow. "Hoth?"

"Yeah, you know Hoth. Everyone knows Hoth. That planet where Luke Skywalker got kidnapped and almost eaten by that frost giant yeti and Han Solo eventually found him all frost bitten-y and almost dead in the snow and had to kill his stinky beast of burden so they could sleep in it's guts to keep warm. You know, Hoth. I'm pretty sure Loki's from there."

"Now you're being obscenely obtuse, Darce." Jane said throwing back her head in a laugh. "You may fool other people, Darcy, but you can't fool me."

"Damn. I really do try too." Darcy said throwing a genuine smile at her boss. That's why she liked Jane. Yeah, she may be a stick in the mud and total prude and ultra annoyingly perfect at times, but Jane was something more too. She was more than the science-y smart people took her for, she was insightful and accepting of everyone. Hello, she fell in love with Thor when he was still a douche-bag prince, and though his antics had been super, hella funny to her, Darcy had never seen past them. Yet Jane had. Jane had seen Thor as he was but also more; she saw the man he was capable of being, and that was some freaky shit.

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><p>The site was abandoned for the most part. There were a few Shield agents wandering around pretending to give a flying cockatoo about who had clearance to enter the base, but other than that the site where Thor landed, twice, was basically empty. That gave Jane and her the chance to run around naked, free as birds, down cold, sterile hallways and commune with the great consciousness of technology. Not. Jane would never be game, but Darcy was just itching to give a few Shield agents a run for their money. She might not be the sexiest bitch around, or drop dead gorgeous like Jane, but she did have some major boobage and that had to count for something.<p>

"Yo, boss-lady Janet, why are we here again?"

"Loki had to come to Earth somehow," Jane answered mechanically as she typed away on some Stark Industries computer system that was the size of the small room. Correction, was the room. It was like freaking Mission Control in here, except they weren't in Houston, and the room was way, way more high tech than NASA's M.C. Darcy sighed. That's what government funding got you -squat. Poor NASA. They had so much potential too. _2001: A Space Odyssey_ came to mind.

"The question is how." Oh, shit. What had Jane been saying? Double damn. She'd actually been interested too about why they were here. That's what she got for teasing Jane in the reject camper and woolgathering. In the former, there had been really no serious discussions, though Jane had tried, and the latter, well, the world had been tuned way down.

"Yeah, how." Darcy said trying to sound focused and alert, but the blue tinged, crazy techno room was making her sleepy. Jane shot her an amused look, clearly knowing more than she let on.

"Thor said Heimdall - "

"The tall bear-guy who guards the Bifrost, right?"

"Close enough, Darcy. Anyway, Thor said that Heimdall didn't sense anyone traveling between the realms through the known pathways, but he went on to say that there are other more obscure passages. The cosmos, as we have come to know, can bend and fold in a variety of ways. Loki just might be powerful enough to do some quote unquote bending."

"In the most unscientific terms, thanks, Janey."

Jane rolled her eyes. "It was my thought that if we could trace the signature RF frequencies and radiation of Bifrost pathway we could maybe trace similiar anomalies on Earth and perhaps know Loki's location."

"Assuming his popping up and disappearing act is basically the same sort of thing as the portal."

"Right." Jane bit her lower lip and exhaled. "It would make things easier for Thor and The Avengers anyway," she finished softly, her face glowing with a light besides the blue-green tinge from the wall size computer screens. Ugh.

"Alright, alright, we all get that you love Thor. Damn. Cool down all ready, you're making us single gals who work on the team feel bad as low on the totem pole as we already are."

"You're only jealous." Jane teased back hesitantly.

"Damn right I'm jealous!" Darcy growled back shaking her fist but secretly glad Jane was teasing her back. She was damn proud. Jane was Achilles to her Chiron, Arthur to her Merlin, Harry to her Dumbledore, Dorain to her Lord Henry, Ankin to her Obi-Wan, Obi-Wan to her Qui-Gon Jinn, Luke to her Ben Kenobi. Wait, she already mentioned him right? Whatever. Different name, same person still counts as two.

Right?

Right.

**Author's Note:**

Welcome, welcome, all, to my little piece of craziness in this mad world known as Loki/Darcy fan fiction. I do hope you enjoyed these first two little introductory chapters and are looking forward to more. Any questions, comments, and/or hate-fueled feelings please direct to the little link below. I'm pretty much game for anything as long as it moderately intelligent or just plain crazy. Emphasis on the crazy.


	3. Impending

**I do not own Thor. **

Author's Note: Jarvis in my story follows more closely with the comic book version - him being Stark's human butler, though we'll just say Stark lovingly named his A.I program after him too. And, as I haven't read the comics, I'm calling free game with him (in my mind at least). Anyway, I hope you all take this fic with a grain of salt. It's meant to be fun after all! I'm not trying to go for anything too serious so I do hope you guys will enjoy this chapter though this chapter might seem like a filler.

Oh, and these little definition things do not mean that I think people don't know what these words mean. They are just my super lame attempt at stylized chapter titles.

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><p><strong>impending<strong>

_adjective._

about to happen; imminent

_synonyms _

threatening, forthcoming, looming, approaching, upcoming

* * *

><p><strong>Let's Not Panic<strong>

Man, oh, man did Banner need a shower. True she wasn't the cleanliest person of the lot - another reward for Jane there - but Darcy was pretty good with showering on the regular. She usually took showers once a day as prescribed by her mother when she was little, but Darcy wasn't at all ashamed to admit sometimes she was lazy, depressed, or an odd mixture of the two and just plain didn't shower. Still, unless Banner was in the pits of some mind-crushing depression there was no need for him to stick as he did.

Darcy sighed looking around the infirmary waiting room and decided to have a little mercy for the rage-arriffic professor. He did after all just come back from an epic with Loki, or so she had been told by Stark as they rolled him into a infirmary room with a painful-looking smirk on his face.

What series of bad choices did she make in her life to end up right here and now? Thor sullenly sitting on the far side of the room, both disquieted and mad as hell, his bulk stressing out the cheap hospital chair under him. Jane quietly sitting by his side whispering while clutching his hands. Nick Fury was calmly and evenly addressing numerous agents sweeping through the place; Coulson, not a cool cumber like the director, visibly appeared pissed while speaking on his cell. Rogers stared blankly out the window onto the bustling streets of New York below. Barton and Romanoff were talking to each other and occasionally answered questions directed from Coulson or Fury.

Darcy closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. She was no one but yet here she was mixing with the Avengers, their friend and lame lackey of sorts, and all thanks to Jane and her often misguided feelings for the Thor-ster. (Misguided because, come on, the dude had some crazy family problems, and if you were married to someone, or were with them in some fashion, you were basically shaking up with their fam too.)

"It's loud, huh?" Darcy said settling her back against the window and crossing her arms.

Steve's profile was white and drawn as he gave her a weak smile. "I've been in louder situations."

Darcy felt herself relax marginally; talking to Steve made her feel productive and she needed to feel like she was doing _something_. Standing around doing nothing was awkward as hell, especially with Shield people running, ahem, walking with purpose, this way and that.

Loki was back. Their respite was over. The shit hit the fan. It was time to get cracking. Damn. This wasn't good for her state of mind. Darcy prided herself on rarely ever freaking out, but knowing Loki was back and knowing that their well being wasn't a top priority for him...well, the smile she sent back to the Cap was pretty much weak as his own.

"Yeah, I bet."

She didn't have any super powers. She didn't have to go through training against terrorists or be dropped from planes behind enemy lines. Her job description was easy - take notes, help Jane, and be a data entry specialist. It was great.

Sometimes.

Other times Darcy wished she wasn't so...normal. She might have pretended not to give a fuck, but deep down she was involved with these people, deeper than she would have ever dreamed, and more than that Earth was her planet too. It might have been ff-ed up and totally dismal at times, but it was hers and that alone made it totally cool; so when someone tried to mess with it...yeah, she was with the Avengers.

They were quiet for a while, both stuck in their own thoughts, when Steve broke the silence.

"He really came from out of nowhere." Darcy noticed his hands shaking as he gripped the railing in front of the window. It shouldn't have affected her as much as it did, but as she watched Steve's hands something akin to the sick feeling of impending doom settled into the pit of her consciousness.

Loki had mad power, of that she was certain.

"At least you got the other bad guys before he popped up," Darcy offered as a condolence pushing aside her own feelings. She didn't want her own anxiety to show in front of these people, not when they were the ones who _actually_ had to do the fighting. "I bet they had their asses handed to them."

She knew they had been on another mission trying to stop some terrorists in Russia, but her information after that was sketchy at best. What she did know was that this group had been after the Cosmic Cube, something which Selvig had been working on with Jane's and Tony's help, and had somewhat succeed in obtaining some valuable information. They, according to Selvig, had entertained hopes of creating a similar type of power source, if they couldn't have the Cube itself.

That was all she knew. Honest.

Selvig, despite being super trustworthy, sometimes forgot she was sitting around quietly somewhere and tended to blab a bit here and there when Fury or some other agent came around. Or they just might have found her trustworthy or something, but Darcy suspected it was mostly because she was often stuck away in shadowy corners by herself. And if she learned anything from her time in high school playing the role of invisible girl it was that by staying quiet one tended to hear a lot. Besides, it didn't really matter. She was like some sort of assistant/secretary for Fury and Coulson when Jane decided to loan her out. Loads of info came with that territory.

"A small piece of good news, but good news nevertheless." Steve brought her back out of her musings with the movement of his muscled arms crossing. The big, magical steroid-infused guy still looked rather pathetic though, like a kicked puppy.

Darcy slapped his arm feeling the beginnings her social butterfly self coming out play and it was all Steve's fault. The poor man was basically screaming for a pick me up and since he wasn't getting any sexy times... "That's the spirit, Cap. Now do you mind not looking at my tits?"

The man turned as red as the American flag he wore in three seconds flat. "I-" he began flustered. "I wouldn't...Miss Lewis, I am very sorry that you would think I would degrade you in such a manner. I-"

"So you weren't looking at my boobs? Are they not good enough for you?"

"No! They are very n-nice." He flushed redder if possible and began stuttering out apologies. Darcy cracked a smile and patted him on the chest.

"No worries, Cap. You weren't looking at them at all, but you looked just so damn troubled." Darcy winked at his confusion, the blood bleeding out of his face. She looked down at her own breast. "They are pretty nice, though."

"Indeed." Fury's voice came from somewhere close behind her. Darcy felt a small strain of annoyance pressure her neck, but managed to ignore it. "If you don't mind, Miss Lewis, I need to speak with Steve and the Avengers in the conference room. Now." Fury gave a pointed looked towards Steve before making his way out followed by Coulson and the other non-maimed Avengers.

Steve managed to give Darcy a polite nod before he joined the others in leaving. That left her and Jane stupidly staring at one another.

Fun.

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><p>Darcy couldn't wrap her head around the whole adoption equals Loki so pissed that he wants to destroy everything. There was also the troubling fact that he was a different race altogether so the adoption secret naturally came with another double whammy, and Thor did mention he hadn't been the greatest bro ever - he had been a d-bag prince, but that didn't necessarily equate to a being a horrible brother in action. Maybe in inaction as he was a bit lazy sometimes. Either way there were some missing parts of the story that Thor didn't know about or didn't talk about with her or Shield at least. Jane probably knew, but if she did she wasn't talking.<p>

"Why do you think Loki just decided to pop up again now?" Darcy hazarded to ask. It had been an hour and the Avengers et al. still hadn't returned. That left only her, Jane, and the sudden appearance of Jarvis for a hot sec (and rapid disappearance as he went to check on Stark) in the Shield hospital waiting room.

Jane blinked at the sound of her voice. "It was only a matter of time before he did, Darcy. Who really knows why Loki does anything. If I had to guess I would assume he must've been taking advantage of the Avenger's weaken state and attention being elsewhere," Jane sighed tiredly pulling her hair out of its braid. "I really need to finish my research trying to track his movements. Battles like _this _shouldn't happen."

"_Soo..._with you on that, but, you know, he isn't the so called trickster god for nothing."

"Hmm?"

"His namesake," Darcy explained seeing Jane's confusion. "He's some sort of magical trickster pseudo-god, right? And if tricksters are anything they are clever. He wouldn't fight a so called fair fight especially since he's out numbered in sheer man power. If he fought it would be on his terms only. That's what I would do anyway."

Jane leaned back and the wall and closed her eyes. "He does have his own army."

"Yeah, but from what Stark tells me most of them kind of suck. They're just, like, a multitude of bodies to plough through."

"I've heard the same thing from Thor," Jane rubbed her eyes. "I do see your point about Loki and it does make sense."

Darcy nodded noticing Jane's stressed out fatigue. "It makes a lot more sense then Selvig's crazy ramblings about Ragnarok coming with the damn rainbow bridge being broken by Loki, the bringer of-"

"The end of the world." Jane finished trying not to smile. "It's weird, I know and on a personal level I don't agree, but even I have to admit it's scarily accurate. I don't think he actually believes it anyway."

"Bull! He so does, Jane. Who knows what type of crazy things they ate up in his isolated town in Norway. You know what they ate probably: fish. And you know what fish have? Mercury, and you don't play with Mercury, Jane."

The older woman finally cracked a smile looking up from her head in her hands. "Thanks, Darce. I needed that."

"All in a day's work, boss-lady. Someone's got to be the cynical yet optimistic person around here. It's good to play both sides as my aunt always says though my mother doesn't agree. Pretty sure it's because she was talking about sexual attraction, but who really pays attention these days."

The two women looked up at the sound of footsteps headed towards them.

"The doctors say he's in stable position now." Jarvis' clipped accent informed them as he sat down, his tall body folding gracefully into his chair. He straightened his tie.

"That's good to know, Chief. Knew he'd be alright." Jarvis raised an impeccable brow her way. "He had that stupid smirk on his face as they wheeled his dead weight in."

"Ah. On his way to recovery even before being tended to by professionals." He returned smoothly turning his attention to Jane. "Are you finding everything in your labs to your liking, Ms. Foster? I do hope everything is running smoothly."

Jarvis, butler/caretaker extraordinaire, was also basically the Chief of Staff for the Avengers, a role hoisted upon him by Stark and rolled with by Shield. Jane, being kind of a side arm of the group, thus fell under his ever watchful, fatherly eye. (It also helped that they had a good amount of equipment loaned to them by Stark Industries.)

"It's more than I could have ever hoped for," Jane enthused her previous smile widening. "With Stark Industries and Shield's help, my success rates for experiments has never been so high."

Jarvis bowed his head slightly. "I'm pleased to hear as such."

"Where's Potts?" Darcy asked finally noticing the blonde's absence. Usually Pepper showed up in a flash whenever something happed to Stark. It wouldn't have been a surprise if she showed up to give a Band-Aid to her boss/man she was in love with because he had a paper cut. OK, that was overkill but it got the point across.

Jarvis held up his phone. "Miss Potts is unfortunately out of country right now, but I have informed her of Master Stark's condition and am keeping her up to date."

Darcy sat back and shot a smile to no one in particular. "Cool. Love technology. How we survived before Twitter and Facebook eludes me big time."

"You didn't have them when you were younger, Darcy." Jane said logically.

"Yeah, and it sucked all the time when I was little. Don't remind me," Darcy answered back rolling her eyes Jane's way and looking at the door where the Avenger's left. "What do you think they're talking about?"

"The Cube, Loki, and what they're going to do now probably." Jane glanced at her watch. "Selvig's is probably almost back from Russia right now. We should probably head out, Darce."

"Where are we meeting him?" Darcy asked as she stood up, grabbing her messenger bag and slinging it over her shoulder.

"He contacted me earlier this morning and told me he was going to be at the Avenger's Mansion in the early evening." Jane flashed a pretty smile at Jarvis. "Would it be a terrible inconvenience for you if, as a favor, you could provide us with transportation to the mansion? My truck is back in New Mexico."

"It would be a pleasure, Miss Foster." Jarvis answered already on his phone.

Darcy smiled at the man. Having rich, influential people as colleagues totally rocked.

It would also prove to be disastrous. Too bad Darcy didn't realize that until much later.


End file.
